I ran track in college (DIII), specializing in sprints, relays, and long jump. I had never competed in anything longer than the 400 m, and my last competition of any type was our conference meet my senior year (1998). Fast forward two decades, I moved to Cornell in December 2017 after 12 years at Columbia. I got roped into assisting Becca Lovenheim with the Lansing Lightning summer track program, along with my training partner Mike Stewart. As part of convincing my boys Oliver and Ben to compete, I ran the mile in the August outdoor track meet that year, where I excreted a time of 6:36. It was my first competition in twenty years. Some spotty training brought that time down to the low 6 minutes for the 2019 outdoor meets, but things got more serious when I joined the High Noon team for the PGXC series this past fall (again at Mike Stewart’s goading–watch out for that guy). I helped the team with precisely 0 points over the five races, but the experience was an epiphany, especially with so many inspiring people from this area running in dominant fashion and with such a great sense of community. My sons and I joined the Mithacal Miler practices this winter, and my initial time trial was a steadily-improved 5:53. The January indoor meet saw that minimally shaved to a 5:47. At the Hartshorne this past weekend, I started in the second row of shame, but felt strong early and was able to move up several positions. I was mostly hoping to keep Peter Frazier and Steven Vanek in view, since I have been aspiring to their level for a while now. In the penultimate lap, I was still feeling strong, unlike in previous races. When we hit the bell lap, I figured I should give it my all, and damned if my all didn’t get given. Sort of felt like the old days, with a solid sub-32 second final 200. I ended up with a 5:29, an 18 second PR over just two weeks prior. Not sure what the difference was, but I chalk it up to Adam’s practices and the heightened context of a truly wonderful event.